06.12.21 – Chemistry Professor Xile Hu at EPFL’s School of Basic Sciences has won the 2022 Swiss Green & Sustainable Chemistry Award from the Swiss Chemical Society.

The Swiss Green & Sustainable Chemistry Award was founded in 2020 by the Swiss Chemical Society, sponsored by Syngenta and hosted by SusChem Switzerland. It is awarded every year to “to encourage and recognize young academic investigators to contribute to the development of sustainable chemical methodologies and technologies.” Candidates are scientists from across the entire world who are under 45 and have made “outstanding scientific discoveries within the field of Green and Sustainable Chemistry.”

The winner of the 2022 Award is Professor Xile Hu at EPFL’s School of Basic Sciences. Professor Hu directs the Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Catalysis who develop catalysts from Earth-abundant elements that can be used chemical transformation related to synthesis, energy, and sustainability. Professor Hu’s research focuses on base metal-catalyzed organic synthesis, electrochemical water splitting and CO₂ reduction, fuel cell catalysis, and developing synthetic models for the active site of metalloenzymes.

The SCS cites Professor Hu for his “outstanding interdisciplinary research program to develop catalysis for sustainable synthesis of added-value chemicals and for cost-effective production of solar and electric fuels.”

The Award will be awarded to Professor Hu at the next Swiss Chemistry Science Night on 16 September 2022 in Bern.